The Thursday from hell.

The little hummingbird has been sick all week. She’s been really congested and has been getting up several times a night which is understandable. She usually wakes up between 6:30-7 am but yesterday (Thursday) since she had been up half the night, she didn’t get up at her usual time so I let her sleep until around 9 am.

I went into her room and was rubbing her back while telling her it’s time to get up. When she wakes up, she normally hops up and is ready to get out of her crib but yesterday she wasn’t like that.

As I went to lift the hummingbird out of her crib, she started shaking and doing these jerky movements. At first I thought I just scared her and it scared the hell out of me too. When I went to lay her on the changing table, the jerky movements started up again and I thought she was having a seizure.

My little girl was screaming and while I tried to remain calm, I was freaking out. It happened a third time and I was terrified so while she was still shaking and jerking around, I grabbed the phone. My first thought was to call 911 but then I called my husband. I called his work and cell number but he wasn’t picking up. Then I remembered that he was teaching a class from 8-10 am that day.

My daughter stopped her jerky movements and I went to the college website to try and find another phone number to get ahold of him. I was also going to call her pediatrician but couldn’t remember her name. Because I was in such a panic and didn’t know what was wrong with my daughter, I forgot that her pediatrician’s number was up on the fridge.

I called the admissions number at the college but that was just a recording and the next number I saw was for the alumni association. I thought fuck it, I have to get ahold of my hubby so I called that number and as soon as a woman answered, the hummingbird started shaking again and screaming before I could even say anything to the woman on the phone.

I told the woman that my husband is an instructor and that I need to get in contact with him because I think my daughter might be having seizures. I was also apologizing to her and told her I tried his other numbers but he’s not answering and I didn’t know how else to reach him.

She was extremely understanding and I told her his name and the situation with my little girl and she said she will get ahold of my husband right away.

During one of my daughter’s shaking episodes, I took notice that her eyes weren’t rolling in the back of her head and even though she was jerking around uncontrollably, she wasn’t arching her back and I started to think that instead of a seizure, she might be having an issue with low blood sugar since that was an issue she had when she was first born.

I took her downstairs and tried to get her to eat something. I was relieved that while she was eating a few graham crackers, she wasn’t having anymore of the shaking episodes and that’s when my husband called me. I told him what was going on and that he needs to get home right now.

We only have one car right now because before we moved here, we lived in the D.C. area and since they had the metro, one car was all we needed there. Here in Northern California it’s different but since we live really close to where my hubby works, when I need the car, he just bikes to work but he had the car yesterday.

As soon as he got home we rushed to the pediatrician and we were seen by one within a few minutes. We mentioned our daughter’s blood sugar issues that she had but he told us that since it was resolved when she was a newborn, it’s not likely that we need to worry about it. Unfortunately, it’s not going to stop me though and I know I will always worry about it.

When he examined her, he saw that she had a double ear infection. I felt like the worst mother in the world for not knowing and never saw her pulling on her ears. I just thought she had a regular cold. The doctor could see I was getting teary and told me that it’s common ear infections can come on quickly and I shouldn’t beat myself up over it.

He even told me that he’s seen children for their well baby check up in the morning and everything looked fine but then they’re brought back by the end of the day and it’s found within that time they developed an ear infection.

The pediatrician told us that the shaking our daughter was having was probably just the result of the pain that the ear infection is causing and the fact that she had just woken up feeling so bad. We had been given her tylenol and ibuprofen but knowing she has been in pain left me feeling horrible. When he left the room to write some prescriptions for the hummingbird, I broke out into tears.

Everything caught up with me. Seeing my daughter go through what I thought were seizures just an hour earlier had me feeling so helpless and I was also feeling like I didn’t handle the situation the way I should have. My hubby tried to comfort me and he said he would have done the same thing I did.

The hummingbird is still pretty sick and currently napping. I called my husband at work to see if he could work from home today, which he did, since I’m still so worried about my little girl.

I hope in the next few days the medicine she’s on kicks the ear infection’s ass because I don’t think I can take much more of seeing her feel so bad. I know she wants that too so she can go back to her wild little hummingbird self.

16 Responses to The Thursday from hell.

Aw, honey, I just wanna hug ya. My son had a double ear infection when he was about 2, and never said a word about it hurting. I also felt like a bad mama. You’re not. You took care of her right away as soon as you saw something was not normal for her. You did great. 🙂

OMG, How terrifying! I would’ve certainly been a crumpled mess on the floor after all of that! Glad to hear that it was nothing worse than what it was and I hope that she feels better really soon… HUUUUUUGS!!!

First, I’m glad to see she is feeling a little better today. Second, don’t ever tell your daughter this story when she is older or else she will use it to her advantage…as in…”Mom, I really want to buy these fancy expensive shoes, all the girls have them and I will just pass out from embarrassment if you do not buy them for me right now kind of like that time when I was 2 and I had a double ear infection and I was really sick but you didn’t know and I remember (even though I was only 2) because it practically scarred me for life”.

I’m just seeing this now (I’m always late to the party, if I’m invited at all), how scary! I think you handled it wonderfully and did all you could do. I used to get ear infections ALL the time (finally got tubes in my ears) and you know what I remember? My mom rocking me when I couldn’t sleep. Not once did I ever think “why didn’t you notice this sooner”, I was just glad she was there, period.